Schedule an in-office, Zoom or phone consultation Here.
NEW RULES FOR SAME SEX COUPLES Social security survivor benefits may seem like a relatively straightforward issues to understand. Indeed, it can be for the majority of people, but with the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that states must recognize the right of all couples, including same sex couples,…
SEEMINGLY COMPLICATED The Generation skipping transfer tax seems complicated to understand and it absolutely should only be dealt with by a seasoned professional, but there are some hallmarks that are present in each such transaction so that individual taxpayers know when the tax will apply and can follow a general…
SOMETIMES MAY BE BETTER TO DISTRIBUTE THAN HOLD ON Most trustees know that they have to make an accounting and pay taxes on at least a quarterly basis. While accounting itself may seem like a relatively simple theoretical proposition, the truth is much different. The devil is in the details.…
IN HOME PERSONAL ASSISTANTS If you already have New York Medicaid you may be eligible for managed long term care or in home care by a licensed Managed Long Term Care Agency (often simply referred to as MLTC). The animating thought is to ensure that older adults can remain in…
CHARITABLE LEAD ANNUITY TRUST There are many great estate planning strategies that allow a person to avoid or lower estate tax liability and give money to charity at the same time. With the large estate tax exemption and portability of estate tax exemptions only a small number of Americans will…
FOCUS ON COMFORT Hospice care is intended to ensure that those who are in the final stages of a terminal illness are cared for and comfortable. It is not to cure a current disease process. Instead it is to help provide a more holistic or all encompassing level of care.…
529 ACCOUNTS Estate planning is the legal strategy by which one generation transfers wealth to the next, which involves an the use of various trusts and/or a will or even transferring money or items to corporations in an effort to legally and ethically reduce tax liability. One of the easiest…
ANOTHER CELEBRITY CASE MAKING CHANGES In the last few months that Casey Kasem had on this earth, he was the center of a brouhaha between his daughter, Kerri Kasem, and her stepmother, Jean Kasem, Mr. Kasem’s second wife. More specifically, Kerri Kasem alleged that at the end of the Mr.…
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN ESTATE PLANNING This blog explored the generic topic of intellectual property in estate planning in the recent past, which is worth reading for a discussion on the larger topic. Estate planning for the artist or even the art collector is certainly related but worthy of its own…
MONEY LEFT IN IRA AT TIME OF PASSING NOT SUBJECT TO NORMAL IRA RULES This blog previously discussed the Supreme Court case of Clark v. Rameker and the legal implications of money remaining in an IRA at death, that is in turn left to the heirs of an estate. Putting…